


Bonus Scenes for "A Hundred Different Shades of Blue"

by kiatina



Series: Kiatina's Dragon AU [2]
Category: Yuri!!! on Ice (Anime)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Dragons, Alternate Universe - Mahoutokoro, Dragons, Every magical creature is accepted as real except dragons, M/M, Mahoutokoro (Harry Potter)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-06
Updated: 2020-12-14
Packaged: 2021-03-06 07:54:17
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 8
Words: 18,153
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25739905
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kiatina/pseuds/kiatina
Summary: Included here are little extras that are related to my story A Hundred Different Shades of Blue.
Relationships: Katsuki Yuuri/Victor Nikiforov
Series: Kiatina's Dragon AU [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1857667
Comments: 70
Kudos: 89





	1. Yuuri's Interview: Part A

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello! I hope these little snippets will keep you occupied until I have a full length chapter ready! Request for your help at the end!

Yuuri followed Satsuki through the front door of the school and felt a blast of nostalgia hit him. It had been close to ten years since he'd been here, yet it looked exactly the same. He felt twelve years old again, intimidated by the ornate décor of the entrance hall yet also feeling a sense of coming home. It was strange not seeing dozens of students running by on the way to class. Yuuri couldn't remember ever seeing an empty hallway during the day.

“We'll be using the Transfiguration classroom,” Satsuki said. “Please follow me.” Yuuri was glad for the guide. He _may_ have been able to remember where the classrooms were, but he was certain he wouldn't know the fastest route to getting there anymore.

On their way he peeked into any room with an open door, sometimes recognizing posters and guessing as to what classroom it may be and other times having no idea. His heart spiked when he glimpsed Professor Morooka in one room, seated at a large desk, and they locked eyes for a moment when the man glanced up casually to see who was walking past. Yuuri gave an awkward small wave in the second he had before they passed the door frame, pausing when he heard “Katsuki?” called out.

He and Satsuki came to a stop, turning around to see Morooka in the doorway. “Katsuki Yuuri?” he asked.

Yuuri nodded. “Hello Professor,” he smiled. “I'm surprised you recognized me.” The last time he'd seen his old professor he'd been a student here.

“Of course,” he said, “I keep up with all my favorite students. I heard you became a professor over at Ilvermorny a few years ago, I saw your photo in the yearbook.” If they had more time Yuuri would have asked how and why Morooka had an Ilvermorny yearbook. “Congratulations, that's an excellent start to your career right after graduating. Now what brings you back to old Mahoutokoro?”

“Mr. Katsuki is interviewing for the Transfiguration position,” Satuski said.

“Really?” asked Morooka, smile widening. “That's fantastic. I wish you the best of luck!”

“Thank you, Professor,” Yuuri said. “It was good to see you again. Sorry I missed you when you came to Yu-Topia last week, Minami said you'd been by.”

Morooka nodded. “Yes, I was hoping to see you, but here you are anyway! It all worked out. I also wanted to see if Nikiforov was really in Japan, you know how tabloids are.”

“Yes,” Yuuri agreed, now well aware how annoying journalists could be, staking out the onsen for a photo of Victor. At least that had mostly died down now. “He is working out of our inn right now. He has a little stand at our front desk where people can come purchase his potions, and of course he still does owl orders.”

“Huh,” Morooka nodded. “That's great. Interesting choice of combination there, onsen and apothecary, but I guess both are kind of medicinal and healing. Is that what you two were going for?”

“...Mhmm,” Yuuri agreed stiffly. “That is exactly why he opened up shop with us.” Absolutely no other reason.

“Victor Nikiforov is actually here at Mahoutokoro,” Satsuki said excitedly. “He arrived with Mr. Katsuki. He's in the courtyard!”

Morooka looked amused while Yuuri turned a light pink. “He insisted on tagging along, he's never seen Mahoutokoro. I know it's a little unusual, I hope it's no trouble...” This was the precise awkward moment he wanted to avoid.

“No trouble at all!” Satsuki beamed. To Morooka she said, “We really do need to get going, Mr. Katsuki's interview will start any minute now.”

“Don't let me slow you down,” he said, waving them off. “Good luck!”

“Thank you, Professor,” Yuuri said again, following after Satsuki once more as she headed down the hall.

Once at the classroom where the interview and skills demonstration would take place, Satsuki set Yuuri down in the single chair on the closest side of the long table. On the opposite side were three empty chairs. “Professor Kida, our Headmaster, will be right in. Also joining him will be our Deputy Headmaster Professor Noguchi, who teaches Astronomy, and Professor Arai who teaches Transfiguration for our upperclassmen. I'll just let them know you're here.”

Yuuri was pretty sure he'd had Noguchi at least once, but it had been ages ago. Kida had been Headmaster when Yuuri was here, so he was definitely familiar with him, but as he'd avoided trouble at all costs as a child, he hadn't had many interactions with the man. Mari, on the other hand, had been a frequent guest in Kida's office.

As he waited for the group to arrive, he thought over what he was going to say. He'd rehearsed it over and over with Victor until he could talk himself up in his sleep.

Speaking of Victor, hopefully he wasn't causing any trouble and just sitting quietly in the courtyard. Yuuri couldn't believe he'd been found out so quickly, but they really should have seen that coming...

* * *

Satsuki burst into the staff lounge shouting, “Victor Nikiforov is in the courtyard!”

The few teachers in the lounge jumped at the sound of her voice, turning to look quizzically at her. “Excuse me?” asked a witch.

“Victor Nikiforov,” she repeated, “The legendary potions master is _literally_ sitting outside in the courtyard right now.”

“...Why?” asked a wizard.

“I don't know! He's just here! With Katsuki for his interview for some reason. Why he's here is not important. Is nobody else freaking out about this? Victor. Nikiforov. Is in. The building.”

Professor Kida entered from the other entrance, smiling lightly. “Is Katsuki Yuuri here?” he asked, sure he'd heard the name. “Noguchi and Arai just headed down there.”

“Yes,” Satsuki agreed, hurrying to his side to walk down to the classroom together. “Professor, you know how I've been asking for more help in the Potions department lately?” The man nodded. “Well you'll never believe this, but Victor Nikiforov arrived with Katsuki just now.”

“The young Russian from Durmstrang?” he asked, as if there were so many Victor Nikiforov's in the world he had to pinpoint which one she meant. “I'd heard he's been in Japan lately.”

“Yes,” Satsuki said quickly. “He would be a _tremendous_ help with the Potions classes. Especially considering the Potions Championship is this year, and he's won that himself! He was top in his class in basically everything! He was Head Boy his final year, captain and seeker on his Quidditch team, you know the Russian team even tried to recruit him! And at least three Ministries!”

Kida smiled, amused. “I don't see how being Quidditch captain makes him qualified for a Potions Professor, if that is indeed what you're going for here. May I also remind you we are not currently hiring a Potions Professor.”

“But sir, you can't pass up this kind of opportunity! You could have a living legend on your staff! And – well – we need a Quidditch referee!” she said. “Madam Masaki is only doing flying lessons this year.”

“Surely we have _one_ professor in house that could referee six games.”

“But -!” she flailed. “Think how beneficial it would be for the students to have him available to them. Not just on the Quidditch field, but academically. If he could assist with our study sessions I've no doubt Mahoutokoro will win the Golden Cauldron this year. It would practically be guaranteed!”

Kida's smile turned to a small grin. “You left out the part about him winning Witch Weekly's Most Charming Smile Award five times, and him being their Most Eligible Bachelor.” Satsuki turned bright red. “I am well aware of he who he is, Ms. Muramoto. I am also aware that we are looking for a _Transfiguration_ professor, and that Mr. Katsuki is the most qualified applicant we've received. Don't let the fame of his friend distract you today and overshadow the real reason we're all here, that's not fair to him. Mr. Nikiforov is a bright, talented young wizard but so is Mr.Katsuki, and _he_ is the one we are considering. I will not bring up Mr. Nikiforov during his interview. Are we clear on that?”

“Yes sir,” she said.

They reached the classroom, and Kida paused outside the door. “I'll consider meeting with Mr. Nikiforov _after_ I've made my decision regarding the Transfiguration position. But right now Mr. Katsuki has my full attention.”

“Yes sir,” she said again, and she left for the staff lounge once more as he entered the classroom.

* * *

Yuuri greeted the two professors when they arrived, smiling when they asked about Mari and pleased when Professor Noguchi said he remembered Yuuri from when he was a student. "You were always with Mr. Nishigori and um, what was her name, young brunette on the Quidditch team..."

"Toyomura Yuuko," Yuuri supplied.

"Yes!" Noguchi nodded. "Ms. Toyomura. Are you three still inseparable?"

"We are," he smiled. "And it's actually Nishigori Yuuko now."

"Really?" chuckled Noguchi. "Can't say I'm all that surprised, to be honest."

The classroom door opened and Headmaster Kida entered, smiling politely. "Hello Mr. Katsuki," he began. "Thank you for coming today."

"My pleasure," he assured him. "Thank you for the opportunity."

Kida got settled at the desk, nodding at the other two professors before opening the folder on the table in front of him. After shuffling through it a little he pulled out Yuuri's resume and set it before him. "Why don't you start with telling us a little about yourself?"

Yuuri nodded and launched into his well rehearsed recap of his education and teaching experience, thankful Victor had drilled him on it until he could recite it precisely each time. It helped with his nerves, knowing exactly what he was meant to say.

"You've been teaching Creature Care at Ilvermorny for three years now, is that correct?" asked Arai. Yuuri nodded. "What made you want to change to Transfiguration?"

"The subject has been one I've been passionate about for just as long as Creature Care," Yuuri said. "It was difficult to choose which one to focus on, but in the end Creature Care was the first available position at Ilvermorny. I do enjoy it very much, but after three years I'm looking to expand my teaching experience to other subjects. Transfiguration was the clear choice. I received top marks on my O.W.L. and N.E.W.T. exams, I won our school's Transfiguration Tournament, and I've kept up my abilities over the years."

"Mhmm," Arai hummed. "And are you an animagus?" That was a popular interest for one so devoted to Transfiguration.

Yuuri internally winced. "Ah, no, but I would be interested in exploring that." And "failing" it again...

Kida chimed in with, "I understand the desire to branch off into new and exciting territory, Professors sometimes do try new fields of study. They don't often change schools though. What made you interested in applying for Mahoutokoro rather than waiting for a Transfiguration position to open at Ilvermorny?"

"Well there was no guarantee that one would open anytime soon," Yuuri pointed out. "And in addition to wanting to teach Transfiguration, there are some personal reasons for me wanting to move home to Japan." He hoped throwing in "personal" would prevent them from digging too much. They questioned along those lines a little further, Yuuri deftly avoiding any mention of dragons.

Soon they wrapped up their initial batch of questions and Kida announced they were ready to see what Yuuri could do. "You may manipulate the items any way you choose, in any order that you choose," he said.

Yuuri leaned over to pick up the bag he'd brought with the requested items, pulling them out and setting them on the table in front of him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> When I got to the practical part for Yuuri to manipulate the items he'd been told to bring... I thought it would be fun to get some suggestions from you guys! So if you like, please comment with an item small enough for Yuuri to be able to bring with him in a backpack-ish size bag. (We can assume he has a little bit of an Undetectable Expanding Charm in place if you want something a smidge bigger.) It's Aug 5 posting this, so I will wait a few days to see if I get any bites :)


	2. Yuuri's Interview Part B

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Yuuri shows off some spells!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you to everyone who suggested random items for this. It definitely was a challenge but I enjoyed it! I put in as many as I could. 
> 
> Also, as a special thanks to folks who have been here from the beginning, I tried to work some of your usernames into this chapter as well! :) I did as many as I could but some of you guys have such unique names I couldn't figure out how to casually slip them in. But if I didn't get you in here, know that I see you and I love you too!

Each department in the building had suggested one item for the list, even if only two professors were present. Over the years it had been a fun challenge they'd come up with, and they were always eager to here how the applicant manipulated their item.

On the table before him Yuuri placed the toaster requested by the Muggle Studies professor and the polyhedral die that the Divination professor requested. Yuuri had been grateful that Phichit had plenty to spare and willing to let him borrow, even if his friend only owned the most sparkly and bold dice, which was why Yuuri had a set of eight glittery metallic amethyst  dice with gold trim. Beside that sat a bezoar stone as per Satsuki's suggestion, and while the Creature Care item was a live mouse, Yuuri set down a cute fluffy plush, along with the toothbrush Headmaster Kida always asked for, as if the other items didn't throw the applicant off enough. 

Finally, Yuuri pulled out his wand and set it on the table as well. The three professors glanced over the items, noticing one was missing and one wasn't quite right. Noguchi looked at the paper on the table before him, a copy of Yuuri's invite with the included list, and said, “Mr. Katsuki, we had requested a live mouse. Also, our Herbology requirement was an apple.”

“Yes, I know,” Yuuri nodded. “I didn't want to risk injuring a live mouse on the way here,” he explained. The cage would have rattled around his magically enlarged bag and he would have felt bad for the creature. Yuuri picked up his wand and pointed it at the mouse, flicking it lightly and watching the stuffed toy morph instantly into a live, squeaking mouse. The professors looked please at this little preview of his display. He set his wand back down on the table, set his hands in his lap so it was absolutely clear he was without it, and briefly closed his eyes. After a moment of concentration, the three light gasps he heard was his signal that three perfectly red and ripe apples had appeared before his panel of interviewers. He was grateful for all the wandless practice he'd had last month in the castle. Who knew conjuring apples would come in handy again.

“Marvelous,” Kida grinned, picking his apple up and taking a bite. “And delicious. Most impressive, Mr. Katsuki.”

Yuuri smiled politely. He hadn't even started yet. Yuuri picked his wand up and took a deep breath.  _I can do this_ , he thought.  _It's no harder than the Tournament, and without the pressure of competitors!_

Yuuri picked his wand back up and started with something small. He set to work on the toothbrush first, levitating it up and over the desk before them so it was on display. With a flourish it morphed into large, colorful spectacles, one lens pink and the other blue. Headmaster Kida laughed and reached forward to pluck it from the air. “Are these Spectrespecs?” he asked, turning them over in his hands. “I haven't seen a pair of these since the nineties.” 

“Eighteen nineties or nineteen nineties?” whispered Professor Noguchi, honestly not sure how old the Headmaster was. 

“ _Nineteen_ nineties,” he clarified with a playful glare. “Lovegood made these, there was a free pair in the back of the Quibbler for awhile, don't you remember?” The two professors glanced at each other and shrugged. “Ah, I suppose the Quibbler wasn't as popular in Japan as it was in Britain.” Yuuri was too polite to mention it wasn't exactly popular anywhere. “May I keep these?” 

“Of course, sir,” Yuuri nodded, and the headmaster placed the specs on the table before him quite happily. 

Emboldened by the reception of the first item, Yuuri looked to the next one. The mouse was quietly sniffing around the table, eying the apples hungrily but keeping its distance. Instantly a small block of cheese appeared before it, and it excitedly took a huge bite, chittering with pleasure. Yuuri gave it a moment before he gave his wand a quick swish in the air. The mouse glowed for a moment before changing into a snuffbox. Mice to snuffboxes was an easy incantation taught in their third year of Mahoutokoro, the year they move on from theory and formulas and into practical use. With another flick it expanded, turning into a beautiful and ornate mirror with a golden trim. The mirror hung beside him as Yuuri reached for the polyhedral dice on the table. 

The panel of professors curiously watched as Yuuri rolled the handful of dice down the table. They clicked and clattered, and before their eyes the dice lost their twenty rough edges and smoothed into polished gems. Some of the dice retained their amethyst color, while others turned into sapphires, rubies, or Yuuri's personal favorite, a rare gem called leonzite, a translucent rock that resembled jade ice. He directed the polished stones toward the mirror, where they expertly fit themselves into the golden trim, glittering in the afternoon light. 

“Oh,” gasped Arai. “That's beautiful.” 

Yuuri smiled politely in thanks and levitated the mirror down to the floor to lean against the table leg out of the way. Next up was the toaster. With no outlet anywhere in the castle, it was useless at the moment. Yuuri wondered if the Muggle Studies professor even knew what it's true purpose was, or just liked the look of it. He pointed his wand at it and it quickly changed into a blow torch. For added effect he had it blow flames a few times, taking care it wasn't pointing toward anyone or anything. 

“Ah, the handheld model,” Arai said, sounding serious for a moment before letting his laugh through. 

“What are you talking about?” asked Noguchi. 

Arai shot him an unimpressed look. “Didn't you pay attention in Creature Care?” he asked. Noguchi looked dully at him. To Yuuri he said, “You know what I'm referring to, don't you?” 

Yuuri's smile grew to a grin. He hadn't expected anyone else to know this old reference, buried deep in back of the Creature Care textbooks. “Yes sir, Winifred Whittle.” He forgot the year it happened, but when muggle construction workers were destroying the forest habitat of some magical beasts a local environmentalist and witch named Winifred had attempted to intervene. The forest had not been properly protected with Muggle-Repelling Charms, and Winifred hadn't the skills to erect such complex defenses. Instead, she spread a series of Muggle Guards around the woods, magical alarms that emitted a shrieking noise whenever it was touched by non-magical hands. People assume she must have entered the construction site while setting the guards, as she somehow retrieved what she called a handheld toaster, but was actually a blowtorch. While her actions weren't exactly brilliant, the guards going off required Ministry intervention and a dozen muggle memories Obliviated, she was instrumental enough in getting better protections in place for fairies and other wildlife that she was added in the textbook. 

“Ah, see, he gets it, he gets it.” Noguchi was about to ask again but Arai said, “I'll explain it to you later. Nice touch, Mr. Katsuki. You're the first in years to do something more entertaining than simply have toast magically pop out.” 

With the blowtorch off and cooled, Yuuri lowered it to the table. The last item he'd been requested to bring was a bezoar stone. He wished they had a little more space for his final transfiguration, he hadn't counted on being inside such a small classroom.  _I can work with this_ , he thought determinedly. 

The bezoar stone glowed and rattled, rising off the table a little bit before bursting into flame. The professors jumped back instinctually, though Yuuri had been careful in ensuring the flames wouldn't reach them. The remains of the stone fell as ash to the table, and for a moment it was quiet, the three professors looking curiously at the ash before they heard a faint chirping. From beneath the pile of ash came a little phoenix chick, shaking off the ash and crying quietly, its voice already enchanting. Yuuri flicked his wand and the chick grew before their eyes, passing through all the stages of life until it was fully grown, and with a much louder cry than before it pushed off the table and into the air, it's long wings on display as it circled the room. 

“Oh!” Headmaster Kida breathed. “Nicely done!” 

But Yuuri wasn't quite finished yet. He turned his wand on himself, tapping his chest twice and muttering a soft incantation before he felt his bones creak in protest and his skin feel too tight. In a matter of seconds he transfigured himself into a hainu, a winged dog of supernatural origin. He beat his wings a few times to test the feel of it before pushing off his chair and flying to join the phoenix. They circled and dove with each other, a beautiful dance within the air, the phoenix singing a hypnotic song, a mesmerizing mix of magic and music.

As the song ended the two creatures landed beside each other on the classroom floor. The hainu gave an affectionate nuzzle against the phoenix's neck before backing up a few paces. Immediately the phoenix burst into flame, the ashes swirling in the air, falling together and solidifying into another bezoar stone. The hainu padded over, picked up the stone in its mouth, and walked back over to the wand that had fallen on the floor. Placing one paw on the wand, it barked once before morphing back into Yuuri. He stood up, dusting his robes off before placing the stone back on the table beside the other objects he'd manipulated. 

It was quiet, and he awkwardly sat back in his chair, folding his hands in his lap and awaiting their response. The three looked to each other, the younger professors looking wide eyed and the headmaster looking pleased. 

Headmaster Hida spoke first. “Mr. Katsuki, we were looking for someone to teach our younger Transfiguration students the most basic elements of the craft.” Yuuri nodded. Had he not proven he could handle that? “Are you certain you will find grades one through five challenging enough to keep your interest?” 

Yuuri blinked, caught off guard by the question. “Y-yes,” he said. 

“Well I certainly think you have what we're looking for,” he smiled, turning again to the other two. “What do you think, Professor Arai?”

The Transfiguration Professor nodded quickly in agreement. “Absolutely. Mr. Katsuki displayed O.W.L. and N.E.W.T. level abilities, not to mention human transfiguration skills much higher than required for even teaching the upperclassmen. If I weren't tenured I'd be a little concerned you were thinking of replacing me, Headmaster.” Their agreement had been the new hire would teach years one through five and he would take six through ten, but this Katsuki may be a good fit for either one. 

Yuuri was trying not to look as surprised as he felt, summoning up his best confident smile as he listened to their review of his work. 

“Professor Noguchi?” 

While over Astronomy, Noguchi had been invited to sit in as a fresh pair of eyes, not biased by what  _he_ would do, as Arai might be. “I'm impressed,” he said honestly. “I'm particularly intrigued by the animal to object display. Forgive me for not knowing the ins and outs of your subject, Arai,” he added, glancing to his fellow professor beside him. “But it's been ages since my last Transfiguration lesson. Is the mouse killed in the process? Either way it was very impressive work!”

“Ah, no,” Yuuri answered. “The mouse no longer exists. It's neither dead nor alive. It didn't exist, I conjured it, and it has once again been sent into...non-existence.” 

Noguchi set his chin in his hand with a sigh. “This is just fascinating. I have no idea how any of this works, but I love it.” Arai shushed him. They were supposed to be knowledgeable, intimidating judges of Yuuri's work –  _not_ starstruck spectators.

Headmaster Kida took over once again. “As you know, the semester begins in less than a month. Like I said, we have already spoken with Ilvermorny's Headmaster and your Head of House, Professor Cialdini, and both had only the highest praise for you.” Yuuri willed himself not to blush. “I think we are all in agreement that you would be an excellent addition to our staff here at Mahoutokoro.” 

Yuuri caught his jaw before it could drop too far. “Ah – thank you, Professor.” 

“Of course we don't expect you to accept the offer officially until you read over the contract, and there's still the salary to negotiate, but the position is yours, Mr. Katsuki.” 

He was certain he would accept any salary in this stunned state. “Yes. Thank you. I appreciate the opportunity.” 

“There is one more thing I wanted to discuss with you before we end this interview,” he said. Yuuri nodded, fidgeting slightly with nerves. “You clearly are very talented when it comes to Transfiguration, there's no argument there. However, seeing as your experience is in Creature Care, I would like for you to complete a continuing education project while you're here.” 

“What kind of project?” asked Yuuri. 

“We would like for you to create your own spell by the end of the year,” said Kida. “What that spell entails is completely up to you, as long as it is related to Transfiguration in some way.”

Yuuri's breath caught. He had never experimented in spellmaking before. Honestly he wasn't sure what went into the process – he'd only ever learned spells from classes or books. But...Victor created his own potions. He was clearly familiar with creative processes. Maybe he could help Yuuri with this. And...the thought of designing a spell that students in the future were taught was very appealing... 

“Yes. Of course, I could do that.” 

Kida smiled widely. “Excellent. We will have an owl sent to you with the details for you to look over, but in the meantime, welcome to the team, Mr. Katsuki.” 

“Thank you. Very much.” While he hadn't signed the contract, for all intents and purposes the job was his. He got to his feet a little numbly, packing up the items he'd transfigured into his backpack as the other three got to their feet as well. They walked out of the classroom, saying their goodbyes to Yuuri. Yuuri noticed Professor Satsuki waiting at the door, and as Yuuri headed for the front door he saw her latch onto the headmaster's arm, talking a mile a minute. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Satsuki immediately grabs the headmaster - "So like I was saying Victor Nikiforov is also here and-" "Okay, alright, tell him he can come to my office!" 
> 
> Special thanks to Leonzite, hope you don't mind I made you into a rock/gemstone xD And Jade_Ice, PhoenixSong, and Specs2 (spectrespecs were you!). You guys have been awesome and I appreciate all your comments! 
> 
> Thanks again for the item suggestions Droewyn, justaddunicorns932, ILoveTrianglesJustNotLoveTriangles, FoxHunt42!


	3. Corktown Curiosities

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Yuuri and Victor begin recruiting help for their plan of exposing the existence of dragons and stopping the illegal trade of hatchlings and eggs. Of course the first person they reach out to is Phichit.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> For Day 1 of YOI Grand Prix Week - America
> 
> This takes place between parts 1 and 2. 
> 
> Surprise post for Labor Day :)

August 16th 2010

_Phichit,_

_I wanted to thank you again for everything you did for me and my family in July. I'm sorry I didn't get to see you much after I woke up. Maybe we could get together before the school year starts?_

_Speaking of the school year, I won't be returning to Ilvermorny this semester. Victor and Minami convinced me to apply for the Transfiguration Professor position at Mahoutokoro, and somehow I got it! Celestino was a little disappointed when I let him know, but he said Ilvermorny would always have a place for me. Perhaps I will teach there again when the girls are a little older, but Victor and I will have a much easier time raising them here in Japan. Did you See this coming? I never would have guessed that I would be co-parenting with Victor Nikiforov!_

_So, the the girls. Victor and I have been discussing what we want for their future, and we have decided that the best way to ensure a safe, fulfilling life for them is to make the public aware of their existence. We aren't quite sure how we are going to do that, but I can't see them being happy hidden away their whole lives, so we are determined to find a way. Our first step is to gather support, which I admit is my main motive behind this letter. Would you consider helping us? We could use a contact in America and there is no one I trust more than you._

_I would like to talk to you about it more in person. I worry about putting too much in a letter that may be intercepted. Call me paranoid maybe, but one of the reasons I ended up in the situation I did in July was underestimating those we oppose. If you would be willing to hear us out, please write back with a good time to plan a visit. We can come to you, or you are always welcome at Yu-Topia._

_Yuuri_

* * *

August 17th 2010

_Yuuri,_

_Of course I'll help. I'll be there next week._

_Phichit_

* * *

Late August 2010

Phichit arrived at Yu-Topia just after lunch, knowing the Katsuki's would have their hands full with customers and hoping to avoid being in the way.

“Phichit!” cooed Hiroko, spotting him poking his head into the kitchen. “What are you doing here?”

“Hi Mrs. Katsuki!” he beamed, stepping fully into the room so she could pull him into a hug. “Yuuri asked me to stop by. Is he around?”

“He and Victor should be in Victor's workroom.”

“Thanks!” He returned her hug and made his way toward the old banquet room that now housed Victor's shop. He still couldn't believe his shy Yuuri was hosting an international heartthrob, even if he had Seen it. When he'd read in the cards Yuuri found his soulmate he hadn't quite expected _this_. He'd been a little nervous a celebrity would be hard for Yuuri to handle, but from what he'd seen during Yuuri's rescue a few weeks ago, Victor had been genuinely concerned for him and Yuuri had been relieved to have him near. Not to mention he'd caught them kissing in the backyard! Yuuri was immensely private, and Phichit knew you had to really worm your way into his heart for him to be comfortable enough for that.

At the door to Victor's room, Phichit was about to slide it open when he heard the unmistakable – but unbelievably rare – sound of Yuuri _giggling._

“ _Victor_ ,” he laughed. “What did you do?”

“You said figure eight motion, I did a figure eight!”

“I said _horizontal_ figure eight!” Yuuri corrected between giggles. “You did it vertically!”

There was a frustrated grunt in response. “Why should that matter?”

Yuuri laughed harder. “You're the best sorcerer in the world, you _know_ why it matters!”

Phichit slid the door open just enough to peek in and see the two of them sitting at one of the workbenches. Victor was covered in a layer of loose feathers, looking like someone had torn a pillow to shreds over him, and he was pouting at Yuuri beside him. Yuuri, on the other hand, had a pretty yellow finch chirping on the table before him.

With a wave of his wand Victor banished the feathers. “It's been ages since I had to do a spell like Avifors,” he said. “It's pointless. We learned it in third year and never once have I _ever_ needed to transfigure _anything_ into a finch. Why do they even teach this spell?”

Yuuri wiped a tear from his eye. “It's a good foundation spell,” he said. “It's an easy one to get them used to changing objects into living things. But you have to _pay attention_ when the professor explains the _wand movements_.”

Victor huffed. “I still think you just said figure eight. Not my fault. You need to give better instructions.”

Yuuri sighed fondly. “You are a ridiculously stubborn man.”

“But I'm _your_ ridiculously stubborn man,” he grinned, and at that Yuuri laughed again and leaned over to give him a quick kiss.

“Yes you are.” Victor beamed and wrapped an arm around Yuuri's waist, pulling him close to-

“Awww, you guys are so cute!” cooed Phichit, pulling the door open. Victor and Yuuri jumped in surprise, Yuuri getting all the way to his feet.

“Phichit! Hi! When did you get here?” he asked.

Phichit grinned. “Just now!” He let himself all the way in, going to plop down at one of the open stools. He looked around the floor. “Where are the dragons?”

“Out in the field with Vicchan,” Victor said. “We would have brought them in earlier but we thought you weren't getting here for another hour.” A pink cheeked Yuuri nodded in agreement.

“My last client canceled her reading so I thought I'd come right over!” he beamed.

Yuuri pulled the stool he'd previously been occupying just a touch further from Victor before sitting down again. “It's probably best we don't have them to distract us,” he said.

“Mm. So. Your letter... You guys want the world to know about dragons.”

The couple glanced at each other and nodded. “Yes,” said Victor.

“We don't think it's fair to them, or to people, for this to be kept secret any longer,” said Yuuri.

“But you don't have a plan yet?” asked Phichit.

“We're...working on it,” said Yuuri. “But we don't want to do anything to draw attention to ourselves until the girls are a little older. I don't want to worry about them any more than I already do. If something goes wrong, and something always goes wrong, I need them to be old enough and strong enough to defend themselves. So for right now we're just trying to get an idea of who would be willing and able to help when the time comes.”

Phichit nodded. “Count me in,” he said. “My Sight has to be useful somehow.”

“Even if you weren't psychic we'd still want you,” Yuuri assured him.

Phichit smiled. “So...is there anything I can help with now?” he asked. There had to be some reason they asked him all the way here.

“Well...” said Victor. “Would you mind doing a reading?”

Phichit grinned. “Cards, leaves or ball?”

* * *

The trio relocated to the dining room so Phichit had more space to work, and while he set out his crystal ball and tarot cards, Yuuri sought out Mari and their parents. Minako was over as well, and she happily asked to join in.

“I don't normally have such a large audience,” Phichit grinned, eyeing the five of them. “This is awesome!” He thrived when it came to showing off, the more spectators the better. “What am I looking for, Yuuri?”

“When I was in the castle with Alice and Antonin, I overheard them saying they had contacts in the States. I was hoping you could get an idea of where they might be, maybe even who?”

“Sure, let's try the ball first.” He pulled it closer, waving his hands over it as the mist inside began to swirl. “Whatever happened to those two, anyway?” he asked.

Mari answered. “We dropped them off at the Ministry. I had a lot of explaining to do as to why I was bringing them in. I'm not supposed to deal with anything dragon related, it was part of my exit agreement. I told them the truth, just left out some details.”

“How many details?” asked Phichit. “And did they get arrested or just fined?”

“They were arrested _and_ fined,” Mari smiled. “Fined for the possession of a dragon and three dragon eggs, officially noted as only 'stolen property' on records, and sentenced to one year in jail for assault.”

“They did a lot more than that to Yuuri,” Phichit frowned, personally feeling like the punishment did not meet the crime.

Mari shrugged in agreement. “We didn't take Yuuri in though.” Hiroko and Victor had taken him immediately home to work on the antidote. “We didn't want to talk ourselves into a corner and be forced into revealing he's an animagus. The two didn't see him after all, they would have questioned when they were supposed to have attacked him. Instead Minako pressed charges against Alice and Toshiya did the same against Antonin.”

Phichit blinked in surprise. “I didn't realize she hurt you that badly,” he said to Minako. “I'm surprised she even managed to land a hit on you.”

“She wouldn't have normally with her terrible aim,” Minako laughed. “I let her get one spell through.” Minkao had been no more than bruised, but it was an attack all the same. Toshiya had had several scrapes and bruises from being in close proximity to so many _bombarda_ blasts. “In any other situation, I'm sure it would have been more than a year. Alice and Antonin probably did the usual poacher move of threatening to talk, and got the Ministry to do the absolute minimum. They couldn't have waived it entirely though, with how many witnesses we had.” Mari had argued that unless they planned to Obliviate several entire families, people were going to notice and be upset if Minako and Toshiya's attackers got off with only a fine.

Hiroko squeezed Toshiya's hand under the dining room table, remembering how worried they'd been for Yuuri. “I hope the day comes when these people receive proper sentences.”

Yuuri smiled. “That's what we're working toward, Mom.”

Phichit's ball began to glow a faint blue. “Oh!” he grinned. “It's getting something. Okay...” He leaned closer, peering into the mist carefully. “I See... A city. It's waterfront. It's big, but...kind of empty?”

Victor frowned. “Is it abandoned?”

“No, just not very crowded,” Phichit decided.

“Any landmarks?” asked Yuuri.

“Uh,” hedged Phichit. “Probably but I don't recognize a lot. The image is from a pedestrian's point of view, so I can't see who we're following. But – oh! Wait! This looks familiar,” and he pushed the crystal ball into the center of the table. They all peered into it.

“It's a huge building,” commented Toshiya. “Looks run down. What is it?”

“Looks like a train station,” said Minkao.

“It's Michigan Central Station,” Phichit said. “Ciao Ciao mentioned it before. There's a charm on it to make it appear abandoned so Muggles don't get near it. It's one of the main hubs of wizard activity in the Midwest.” They watched the swirling image of the station in the crystal ball, watching from the man's point of view as he approached the building that appeared to be in dire need of repair. With a tap of his wand on one of the front doors, it unlocked and swung open to reveal a beautiful interior.

Just as the man appeared to spot who he was looking for the image swirled away.

“What happened?” asked Minako angrily. “Get it back.”

“I can't,” Phichit said. To prove it, he waived his hands over the ball again, the image stubbornly refusing to resurface. Instead, they saw the Ambassador Bridge, and from their point of view the individual in question was at the foot of the bridge, looking up and watching Muggle cars as they left Detroit, Michigan for Windsor, Ontario. After a moment they looked to their side, and though they were mostly in shadow, the group could see a collection of large wooden crates stacked beside him. Yuuri squinted and was sure they were looking at that same hippogriff logo, the faded words painted on reading _Finnegan's Floristry._

“Damn it,” Yuuri growled. “It's them alright.”

“Isn't it a good thing we found them?” asked Victor.

Yuuri scrunched his nose in clear displeasure. “Yes. But I'm mad this means that they're still selling dragons under that fake company. I thought Charlie tracked them down and put a stop to it.”

“Maybe it's old crates,” Mari said. “Maybe there were more of them that didn't get caught?”

Victor nodded in agreement. “Not very smart of them to keep using the same alias.”

“Well we know they aren't brilliant,” Yuuri grouched. “That's actually a good thing for us.”

“So does this mean they're taking dragons across the border?” asked Phichit. “Doesn't that bridge go to Canada?”

Phichit and Yuuri looked at each other, the lightbulb going off in both their minds at the exact same time. Yuuri looked to his mother, knowing she'd have her two-way mirror on her when he and Mari never bothered with it half the time. “Mom, I need your mirror,” he said, holding his hand out. “I need to call JJ."

* * *

The next morning Phichit had returned to the United States, but rather than going home to Massachusetts he took the Floo Network to Michigan. JJ was set to arrive tomorrow.

Phichit had gone right for the heart of the problem and appeared out of one the chimneys in Michigan Central Station. While he didn't know who or what he was looking for exactly, he was on the hunt for anything that looked suspicious.

He pushed through the crowd of witches and wizards, the depot filled with little shops selling everything from wands to cauldrons to robes. The distant whistles and rumbling of trains was a constant background noise, tying in with the calls of shopkeepers trying to entice visiting wizards to come browse their selections.

Phichit ducked into a couple of shops, partially out of duty to investigate and partially out of curiosity. He had never been to Michigan before, and didn't think he had to waste the opportunity to do a little sightseeing.

An hour after he arrived Phichit had an armful of souvenirs to take home and no idea where this suspect was supposed to be. He supposed he ought to put in a little more effort and try not to get too distracted. He resolved to do better, and turned down one of the shorter hallways that was less crowded. Maybe being away from all the flashy shops would do him good. Down this hall was a cluster of shops that held his interest far less, such as quill shops, a second hand book store, and a junk shop that appeared to sell broken wands and lopsided scales.

Uninterested, Phichit made to turn around when he noticed something in the window of the junk shop at the end of the hall. While he was no expert in Herbology, he remembered Venomous Tentacular vividly as one had grabbed him his sixth year at Ilvermorny, and he was pretty sure it would have strangled him if a classmate hadn't doused it in two bottles of Herbicide. Why their professor thought it was a good idea to introduce students to a man eating plant he'd never understand.

Aside from past trauma raising a red flag when he saw it, Venomous Tentacular seeds were a Class C non-tradable substance. Phichit assumed the full grown plant was restricted as well, but he wasn't sure. A quick glance around showed him that few if any wizards were looking their way, and absolutely no one was browsing the shop. He quickly stepped in and set to work pretending to look over the items.

Once in here he was even more unimpressed with its offerings; broomsticks without bristles, quills with bent feathers, and dried up inkwells. There was an entire bookshelf of used textbooks that had seen better days, most with tattered binding or no cover. A barrel overflowed with damp fireworks that surely were incapable of being set off. Phichit ventured further in and found a table covered in potions that couldn't be in high demand – wart remover, a babbling beverage that causes uncontrollable speaking of nonsense, and a fatiguing infusion. Who would _want_ to be fatigued?

More importantly, who would want to come in this store?

After passing a rack of stained and bleached robes Phichit started heading for the exit. No wonder there wasn't a single customer in here, he wasn't sure there was one thing in the entire store that anyone would want. As he reached the door his eyes went back to the Venomous Tentacular. _It's probably illegal to even sell that_ , he thought, not surprised this shop wouldn't know that. _Just one more reason to avoid this place._

His brain screeched to a halt.

He was looking for something suspicious. A shop that had no customers and no inventory any reasonable person would purchase was somehow managing to stay afloat within Detroit's hub of activity? Even down this hall at the end, the rent for being in Michigan Central couldn't be cheap. At the very least, _more than zero_ , which is what Phichit guessed was the average daily profit for this shop. It just didn't make sense that this store, whose items repelled customers, kept its doors open. Add in the fact it had illegal plants for sale and you had yourself a darn right suspicious situation. And they had the nerve to have it in the window! Phichit guessed most must not pay it attention, allowing it to go unchecked, but when you had one attempt to murder you in the middle of class you tend to remember it.

Phichit swiveled back around and made another lap around the store, this time taking even more care to observe the items. By the time he was done he was certain the goal was to be as unappealing and repulsive as possible. Anyone who wandered in wouldn't stay long.

He heard a door open and looked up to see a wizard coming out of the backroom, and when their eyes met the man looked startled at the sight of a customer. “Oh!” he gasped. “Can I...help you?” he asked, for possibly the first time in his life.

“Uh, yeah,” Phichit said. “I saw that weird plant in the window. Is that for sale?”

“Um.” The man blinked owlishly at him. “...Yes?” He sounded like he wasn't entirely sure if the items in the store were actually meant to be sold.

“Cool. How much is it?”

Again a blank stare. “...Two galleons.”

Phichit nodded. “Okay. I'll think about it. Looks like it'd make a cool pet. Do you just feed it mice or what?”

“Uh,” the man hedged. “Yeah. Mice. Like, once a day I guess.”

“Okay, I'll think about it,” Phichit repeated, smiling. “What is it anyway?”

“Venus fly trap.”

Phichit hoped his disbelief didn't show in his expression. “Really?” he asked politely. “Wow I thought those looked a lot different...”

“This is a foreign one. It's uh, from Africa. Looks a little different than the domestic types.”

Phichit's smile grew strained, but he did his best to look convinced. “Wow, I didn't know that. Okay, two galleons, huh? I've got my hands full with this stuff,” he held up his bags of shopping, grateful for an excuse to leave without purchasing anything. “But I may come back for that later. Do you have a business card or something I can take?”

The man was quickly going from shocked to hesitant to annoyed, clearly not used to so many questions. “Yeah, here,” he said, ducking under the counter for a moment before shoving a card across.

“Thanks,” Phichit grinned, grabbing it and heading for the door. “Have a great day!” He received no response.

Once out in the hall Phichit allowed himself to read the card. _Finnegan's Floristry, Supplier of Rare and Exotic Plants._ He glanced up to the outside of the shop, only just now realizing there was no name posted, just a poorly painted sign that read Corktown Curiosities.

 _Finnegan's Floristy._ Phichit grinned, pocketing the card. _Gotcha._

* * *

JJ and Phichit met up the next day outside Michigan Central Station. JJ brought Isabella along and Phichit had called Leo, and the four were happy to reunite after several months apart. Phichit gave them a rundown on what happened the day before, and they agreed to go check out the curiosity shop together.

They meandered slowly through the first floor, stopping at a little ice cream stand and getting a treat, playing tourists. They doubted anyone was on the lookout for Phichit after yesterday, but they couldn’t be too careful

Soon Phichit lead them down the hall that was off the main midway and out of the way, to the far end where the shop was. He noticed immediately that the plant was gone. “Follow me,” he said, and stepped into the shop.

A different attendant was at the register today. He looked up at their approach and frowned, not the least bit welcoming to the first group of customers it probably ever had. “Can I help you?” he asked blandly.

“Yeah,” Phichit smiled, trying to come off as casual as possible. “I stopped in yesterday and talked to someone about the venus fly trap that was in the window. I told my friends about it when I got home and they thought it sounded cool, it would definitely be a great addition to our dorm room. I told the guy yesterday I would probably be back for it, but I don’t see it?”

The man’s frown deepened. “Sorry, you must have the wrong store. We don’t sell plants.”

Phichit tilted his head in confusion. “No, I’m pretty sure it was this place… It was up in the window by those shrunken heads.”

“You’re mistaken,” the man said again. “We do not and never have sold plants.”

“I swear it was here…” Phichit said, reaching into his pocket. “I grabbed a business card.” He flashed the _Finnegan’s Floristry_ card for the man to see, and his face had the first hint of emotion since they arrived, though it was just a slight widening of his eyes. “ _Finnegan’s Floristry_ ,” Phichit said. “ _Supplier of exotic plants._ Like the venus fly trap.”

The man nodded. “Ah, see, there’s your problem. This clearly isn’t a florist. You have the wrong place.” He reached into a cubby beneath the counter and pulled out a business card and handed it over to Phichit. _Corktown Curiosities._ “Now unless you want something other than a plant, I have to get back to work.”

Phichit stepped back to his group of friends, exchanging confused glances before shrugging and heading out the door. They definitely weren’t interested in taxidermy animals, broken clocks or half empty potion bottles.

They left fairly quickly after that, leaving the station and wandering down Vernor Highway aimlessly as they thought over what had just happened. “I’m positive that was the place,” Phichit said. “No other shop or stand sold anything that bizarre.”

“He had a different business card though,” said Isabella.

“Yeah,” Phichit nodded. “Still positive that was the place.”

They thought it over some more, coming to a stop under some trees in Roosevelt Park. “What if he gave you the wrong card yesterday?” suggested Leo.

“What do you mean?” asked JJ. “Why would they have two different cards?”

“No, no, that would kind of make sense,” nodded Phichit, mind racing. “You have one made up for the fake front, Corktown Curiosities, if anyone like us wanders in. You have Finnegan’s card for people who are coming there for the _real_ merchandise.”

“But how do they know we wouldn’t want…you know. ‘ _Flowers’_ from Finnegan’s?” asked JJ.

Phichit scoffed. “We’re a bunch of kids. Why would we know about it? I’m guessing that guy last night messed up and they’re trying to deny it ever happened.” Either he was new or a customer had never entered the store and he’d gotten lazy and distracted. “I doubt they think we’re much of a threat, but they may try to lay low. I wish we’d realized this yesterday.”

“Maybe we could follow them after the store closes,” suggested Isabella.

“They’ll probably just Apparate,” said Leo.

“Not _everyone_ Apparates _everywhere_ , you know,” she said. “I like walking. Plenty of others do. I don’t think it would hurt to try.”

In the end they agreed to stake out the shop and see if the employee left via the door or Apparation. JJ and Isabella went back into the station, bought today’s Daily Prophet and sat themselves down in a nearby bench in one of the waiting areas that had a clear view of the store. It was perfectly reasonable that they were waiting on an incoming train and chatting and reading to pass the time. Meanwhile, Phichit and Leo split up, one lingering around the front of the station and the other lurking around the back.

After several boring hours JJ let them know the store shutters were pulled down and a closed sign was hung on the door. When it was clear the man was not coming out the front, JJ and Isabella hurried to help Leo and Phichit keep track of the many exterior doors. Leo caught sight of him exiting out one of the side doors and slinking off into the shadows. He whispered into his two-way mirror as he trailed after him at a distance, his three friends hurrying to catch up to him.

“Isn’t he going to notice us?” Isabella whispered.

“Hang on,” Phichit whispered back, pulling out his wand. He cast the Disillusionment Charm he’d learned from Yuuri on all four of them.

“This is weird,” mumbled Leo, looking at his hand but not seeing it. “I’ve never been invisible before.”

“You aren’t invisible,” corrected JJ. “You’re just the exact color and texture of whatever you’re near. Like a human chameleon.”

“…So invisible,” Leo said again, satisfied with that as he considered himself no longer visible.

“Let’s go,” Phichit said, breaking up the disagreement. “He’s getting really far ahead.” They picked up their pace and closed the distance, following the man down several streets until they were approaching numerous warehouses. They were careful not to let him out of their sight, sneaking up to the one he entered and peering into a dusty window.

It was hard to see much, but they could make out several wizards inside talking. Around them was mostly empty storage space, but against the far wall were several stacks of crates. Some looked empty, some were sealed and presumably housing a hatchling or egg. “I think this is it,” Phichit whispered. “It looks like the same kind of wooden crate Vicchan was stuck in.”

“Where are the adult dragons?” asked Leo.

“Maybe they don’t have any right now,” suggested JJ. “Maybe they’re too hard to transport.”

“Yeah,” agreed Phichit. “You saw how Verndari and Azura were.”

Leo shrugged. “Yeah, but those two poachers were idiots. Surely some of them are better at it than them?”

“Let’s hope not,” Isabella said. While she had only been let in on this a few years ago, she jumped in wholeheartedly. JJ was still appreciative that once the group realized Isabella was a permanent fixture in their circle and not just a crush, they had agreed to let him tell her. She had thought it was once again a weird way to brag, convinced he was kidding like she had when he originally told her, up until Phichit used his crystal ball to show her a glimpse of Vicchan and Yuuri.

“Okay, what now?” whispered JJ. “We can’t just go barging in there.”

Phichit nodded. “Right. I’ll call Mari. She’ll know what to do.” A door creaked and they all fell to the ground, forgetting they were under the disillusionment charm. They saw two mean leave the warehouse and walk briskly down the street.

“Wonder where they’re going…” muttered Leo.

“That’s in the direction of the water, isn’t it?” Phichit asked. “One image in the crystal ball showed the bridge to Canada. There were a bunch of crates there. Do you think they’re planning to take stuff over the border?”

“Maybe you saw their reaction to the shopkeepers mistake,” said Isabella. “They probably assume we’ll think nothing of the business card, but might want to be on the safe side anyway and relocate?”

“Well if we don’t leave now we’ll lose them,” said JJ quickly. “Why don’t you two stay here and call Mari while Isabella and I follow them?”

“Okay,” Phichit agreed, and while he couldn’t see his friends take off, he heard the sound of the two of them getting to their feet and hurrying after the two wizards.

“What time is it in Japan?” asked Leo while Phichit patted his pockets, looking for his mirror.

“No idea,” smiled Phichit. “But definitely way too early for us to call her. Which is why we’re going to call Yuuri first so he can be the one to wake her up.”

* * *

Within an hour Phichit and Leo were joined by a very sleepy Yuuri, Mari and Victor. While Phichit had insisted they only needed Mari’s advice, the three insisted right back that they’d get dressed and Apparate over. Like before, crossing an ocean and a few countries took a toll, and they had to sit for a moment to gather themselves.

Phichit took the opportunity to explain what had happened thus far, and soon Yuuri was looking through the window and agreeing that it looked very similar to what Vicchan had been held in. When the illuminated wands the wizards were holding flashed on the crates, Yuuri could almost make out that hippogriff logo.

“So what do we do?” he asked his sister.

“I can report it,” Mari said. “The ministry will investigate. Slap their wrists and fine them.”

“Better than nothing,” thought Leo.

Victor and Yuuri disagreed. “That’s hardly a penalty,” Victor said. “Barely even a deterrent to not do it again. And what will happen to the eggs and any dragons they have in there?”

“The Ministry will probably confiscate them. Most likely take them to one of their ‘protected’ habitats.”

“The ones that are well known to these people?” scoffed Victor. “They’ll just go catch them again.”

Mari sighed. “I’m just telling you the most probable course of action the Ministry will take. What do you suggest?”

Yuuri piped up with, “Can’t _we_ confiscate the eggs?”

Mari made a noise of confusion. “What do you mean?”

“Someone distract them and lure them away. The rest of us go in and get the eggs. Apparate home before they know what happened.”

“And how exactly do you plan to distract them?” asked Mari.

Yuuri smiled lightly. “I have an idea.”

* * *

JJ and Isabella tracked the men to the base of the Ambassador Bridge. As Phichit had Seen, stacked around one of the bridge supports were a few wooden crates. The two they’d followed approached a wizard standing guard over the merchandise.

“We moving or what?” asked the man by the crates. “I get these all the way out here and then don’t hear from you again. What gives?”

“Cool it,” frowned another man. “We had some stuff to take care of. Now you’re hearing from us. And yes, boss man says he wants everything moved to our place in Windsor. Apparently Aldridge messed up again. Aldridge says it’s not a big deal, he just gave a stupid kid the business card, but Nilo said this was the last straw. We’re moving the operation and ditching Aldridge.”

“It would have been easier to just sell the damn plant to the kid. I mean it would have made the front look legit if we actually sold something, right?”

“You know damn well Tentacular are illegal.”

“Yeah but that kid probably doesn’t. So he gets a feisty plant, who cares?”

“When it eats him or his dog his family will care. You’re as bad as Aldridge, I swear. Now shut up and start loading.”

JJ and Isabella watched the three wizards start picking up crates and loading them into the back of a pickup truck. “What do we do?” whispered Isabella.

“I don’t know,” frowned JJ. “Maybe we could follow them somehow?”

One the men grunted as he set another crate in the bed of the truck. “Who’s getting this thing to Windsor, anyway?” The other two were quiet. “Who knows how to use this Muggle thing?”

“Eh, I think Nilo does…but he told us to do it.”

The first man sighed. “How are we supposed to just know how to operate this thing? And well enough for Muggles to let us by? Why does he think this is laying low?”

“Well, he didn’t want to draw the attention of wizards. They won’t be looking for us in a Muggle vehicle.”

“Yeah, well we won’t be in a Muggle vehicle if no one knows what to do with it!”

JJ looked to Isabella. “We have some time, they aren’t going anywhere fast. What if we get a tracking spell onto one of the crates? Then we can-” A loud roar in the distance startled him into silence, both their heads whipping to look back the way they came.

“What was that?” asked one of the wizards, and after a glance at his companions they all took off toward the noise.

They waited until they were sure all were gone before sneaking over to the truck. Peeking between the boards they could see multiple eggs nestled in hay, ready for transport. “Okay, new plan,” JJ whispered. “We switch these out for replicas.”

Isabella moved to a different crate and pulled her wand out, whispering “Alohomora” and watching the lock pop open. “Gemino,” she said, and used the doubling charm to create an exact replica of the eggs. Afterward, she shrank the eggs and conjured some soft cloth, wrapping the eggs and setting them carefully in her robes pockets. She and JJ worked quickly, locking each crate afterward and hoping nothing looked misplaced.

“I’ll still put a tracking curse on one of these crates,” JJ said. “That way we can figure out where their base in Windsor is.”

“The replica eggs won’t hatch, will they?” asked Isabella.

“No,” said JJ. “You can’t replicate sentient beings like that. These will look like eggs, but never hatch. Either they will assume they’re duds or they’ll crack them open and find them empty. We’ll be long gone before either of those happen.”

“Okay,” she nodded, starting to step away from the truck. “We should go check on the others. What was that noise?”

JJ agreed, hurrying after her. “I think it was a dragon.”

* * *

“This is crazy. This is not going to work. This is absolute madness,” Leo was saying.

“This isn’t the craziest thing we’ve done, to be honest,” Mari smirked.

“What if somebody _sees_?” Leo asked.

“No one’s around, it’ll be fine. Don’t worry,” Victor assured him. “Besides, I put up an illusion. If anyone looks this way they’ll just see an empty building.”

“I just think-”

“On the count of three!” Phichit grinned.

Yuuri nodded. “One. Two-”

Before he could finish Phichit bolted from his hiding place and ran to the door of the warehouse. He threw it open, drawing the attention of all the men inside. “Oh my god!” he screamed. “A dragon got loose!”

“What the-”

“Who are-”

The men had only a second to react before a large blue dragon burst it’s way through the loading bay, sending the metal door crashing to the ground. With a roar Yuuri beat his wings, the resulting gust sending the men tumbling over themselves.

“I thought we took all the adults yesterday?!” cried one man. “Where did it come from?”

“Clearly we missed one!” shouted another. “Tie it down!” Red and green sparks of light ricocheted off Yuuri’s scales, and he sent a burst of steam their way, the wizards diving for cover.

Unbeknownst to the crooks, Victor had crept inside the warehouse, sticking close to the walls and hiding in shadow. He carefully sent counter-curses their way, making sure none of their spells hit Yuuri dead on. He alternated between defensive charms and trying to land a stunning spell of his own, but Yuuri was doing a spectacular job of scattering them around and he was having trouble aiming.

With the men thoroughly distracted, Mari, Leo and Phichit made their way to the crates. Each placed a hand on one and Apparated to Leo’s home, finding New Mexico, while still far, a more preferable destination than Yu-Topia at the moment. After a few minutes rest they returned for their second trip.

JJ and Isabella returned to the warehouse to find quite a chaotic scene. Isabella was stunned at the sight of a dragon shaking ropes from its snout, whipping it’s tail at two wizards and sending them flying. She had seen a dragon in Phichit’s crystal ball, but never in person, and she was awestruck. “JJ, what-”

“Find the others,” he said quickly, unaware that the blue dragon was Yuuri but certain his friends were behind this somehow. They ran along the wall and found Victor Nikiforov crouched behind some dusty barrels. Victor Nikiforov?! “Wha-?” In an instant Victor had rounded on them, wand raised to stun, but Phichit was luckily popping back in at the moment.

“Wait, they’re with us!” he said, and when Victor turned back to Yuuri he added, “Uh, he’s with us,” to JJ and Isabella.

“But – Isn’t that -?” began Isabella, but Phichit grabbed her hand and started towing her toward the last of the crates.

“Long story. Explain later. Take these crates to Leo’s,” Phichit said.

JJ followed after Phichit and Isabella, and while they did another trip to New Mexico he set to work doubling empty crates, worried someone would eventually notice they were disappearing.

Once all the eggs and hatchlings were replaced with empty crates, Phichit sent sparks into the air, calling “Periculum!” All eyes turned to him, and Yuuri took the second of confusion to dart for the bay door again, shifting into a human as soon as he was out of sight and Apparating to Leo’s, the rest of their group doing the same and leaving the warehouse once and for all.

* * *

“Is everybody here?” asked Yuuri, looking around at his group of friends. He was relieved to see everyone was accounted for.

“I can’t believe that worked,” uttered a stunned Leo, looking around his backyard at over a dozen crates. “How did that even work?”

Victor slipped an arm around Yuuri’s waist, relieved he didn’t look too beat up. “I have a feeling those men were more the business minds of the operation and not the ones regularly dealing with full grown dragons. Even if I wasn’t sabotaging their spells, I doubt they would have been able to catch you, Yuuri.”

“Thank god for that,” Yuuri sighed. “Being caught once was more than enough.”

“So…now what do we do?” asked JJ.

“Guys, my parents will flip if they realized I brought home dragons.” Luckily they were asleep in the house, but leaving them in the yard was not a good long term plan.

“We have to get them to Yu-Topia,” Yuuri said. “Victor, Mari and I can each take two crates at a time.”

“Oh! Um!” Isabella piped up. She reached into her pocket and pulled out the miniature eggs, JJ doing the same with the ones he’d taken, and they returned the eggs to their normal size for now.

“Wow!” grinned Victor.

Yuuri was just as amazed. “You found what Phichit Saw in the crystal ball?”

“Yeah,” JJ nodded. “They were going to take them to Windsor. We were right. That guy in the shop wasn’t supposed to give Phichit that card. Sounds like it was the last straw and they were ditching their Detroit crew and going over the border. I put a tracking charm on them so we can find their new place. In the meantime, Bella and I brought back thirteen eggs.”

“Thirteen?” wheezed Yuuri. He glanced to Mari, expecting to share an incredulous glance with her, but instead her focus was on counting what they’d brought from the warehouse.

“Five babies, eighteen eggs,” she said.

Yuuri felt his knees go weak. “But that’s…thirty-six dragons!” Nearly double what they had back home already. He heard a happy gasp and looked to see Victor sitting cross-legged on the grass, inspecting the eggs Isabella had produced. There was a certain sparkle in his eye as he looked them over. When he looked up to Yuuri, Yuuri crossed his arms. “No.”

“But-”

“No.”

“But-”

“ _Victor_. We can’t hatch thirteen ourselves. Or thirty. Or however many there are.”

“But-”

“We already have four!” he laughed. “These are going right to Azura.”

Victor pouted, whispering something that sounded like _we'll see_ as he hugged a pretty pink egg to his chest.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As a Detroiter, I of course am THRILLED that Detroit is a canon location!
> 
> So I was going to do a short 500-1000 word story for each day of the Grand Prix Week, but ended up doing this instead xD Woops.


	4. Identifying Dragons Part A

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After their latest rescue, Yuuri and Victor and up to their eyeballs in dragon eggs! What will they do with so many at once?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Another interactive short for you guys :) please see the question at the end!

Over the last month Yuuri and Victor had their hands full with the sudden increase in eggs. Their first priority had been creating a safe space to keep all of them, and the two wizards quickly built a new addition to the sanctuary they deemed the nursery. In addition to Victor and the Katsuki’s, most of the female dragons shared the responsibility of guarding the nests, feeding the babies, and heating and rotating the eggs. Five hatchlings and thirty-seven eggs had originally been arranged within the nursery, and seeing as they had no idea how far along any of the eggs were, they were constantly on the lookout for signs of them beginning to hatch. To their shock, eggs were already cracking and hatching faster than they were prepared for.

“Vitya,” Yuuri called, crouched beside one cluster of white and brown speckled eggs. “I think one or two of these may be next.” If he watched closely he was certain one egg shuddered lightly now and then. “How are yours doing?”

Victor was a few yards away inspecting a light blue egg, carefully turning it over in his hands. “Not yet for this group here,” he said. “But what I think are Hungarian Horntail eggs over by Moonstruck are nearly ready. The cracks are growing pretty quickly now.” Satisfied that the blue one needed more time, he set it back on the rocks and got to his feet, bending to pick up a pink egg and cradle it in his left arm. “Do you think Moonstruck is ready to be a mom?”

“Under other circumstances I would say no,” Yuuri said, getting to his feet himself. “But we don’t have many options. Azura took the last three, Grace has two, I’m trying to keep Libelle free to focus on the older hatchlings…” In the interest of creating space, Yuuri was working on finding suitable locations to release any healthy adults they had. He’d been dragging his feet because he hated parting with them, and also had been distracted with everything that happened the last few months. He needed to focus once again on the original point of this sanctuary – rehabilitate and release. He hoped to rehome up to ten by Halloween, and the rest by Christmas, but it wouldn’t be easy. That meant a lot of the work would fall to the remaining dragons, he planned to keep less than ten adults. Assuming all eggs hatched and survived, they were looking at nearly fifty dragons being born by the end of the year. “Moonstruck is almost two. It’s entirely possible she’d have laid eggs by now in the wild.” Yuuri came to Victor’s side. “You’re still determined to hatch that pink egg, hm?” he laughed.

Victor clutched it closer to himself. “Just one more, Yuuri. Makka wants a little sister.”

“Makka _is_ the little sister!” Yuuri laughed again. Victor already had his ‘one more.’ He held his hands out and Victor slowly passed the egg over. Yuuri looked it over as well, not seeing any signs of activity. “Looks like she’ll have to wait a little longer.” He returned the egg to Victor who settled it carefully in the crook of his arm again. “But anyway, I think Moonstruck will do just fine. And as we’ve seen, it’s a group effort. They’ll cling to her and favor her, but the other females will be there to help her with them. I just don’t think we can ask Azura to be the primary caregiver again.” These last three brought her total up to eight hatchlings under one year old.

“What about those over there?” Victor asked, pointing to the eggs nestled in hay rather than on hot stones. “Have you figured out what they are?”

“No,” said Yuuri. “I went through all your books and didn’t see anything that mentioned eggs that weren’t to be heated. I guess we won’t know until they hatch.”

Victor frowned, wondering what they could be, before he pushed it from his mind. “Do you want me to feed the dragons before we go home?”

“Please,” Yuuri nodded. “I have about a dozen left to check. If you could feed them, I’ll finish this up. I’m going to stay late tonight in case those Horntails decide to hatch today.”

“You have class tomorrow morning,” Victor reminded him. “I’ll stay tonight, you get some rest.”

Yuuri chuckled. “I can’t trust you to be alone with hatching eggs. You’ll ‘forget’ to call Moonstruck over and we’ll have another two or three little dragons at Yu-Topia in the morning.”

Victor looked a combination of mock outraged and guilty. Yuuri wasn’t entirely _wrong_ but he didn’t have to call Victor out on it.

Yuuri sighed fondly. “I know, Vitya. It’s tempting, isn’t it? I would love to personally raise each and every one too. But there’s too many. Not to mention it’s in their best interest to be raised by a real dragon, don’t you think? I can take the form of a dragon, but I can’t teach them everything they need to know. I’ll do my best with our four, of course, but I don’t want us to spread ourselves too thin.”

“I know,” he said, patting the egg he was holding. “I haven’t forgotten what we’ve set out to do, and I know you don’t want to have little ones at home when we do it. Which means at some point we have to stop adopting little dragons.”

“I hope you realize that ‘some point’ is now,” Yuuri laughed quietly.

“I hope _you_ realize that once this is all over, we are doubling our family tree. And I mean at the very _least_ , doubling it.” 

Yuuri was too struck by the fact Victor was thinking that far ahead to argue. If all went according to plan the world would know about dragons within a year or two. They would be public knowledge, no longer something only Yuuri could offer Victor, yet Victor still planned to stay here, stay together, stay a family. Yuuri hadn’t even realized a part of himself had been worried about eventually not being needed by Victor until the moment the fear was banished. With a rush of affection flooding through him Yuuri leaned forward to kiss Victor square on the lips.

When Yuuri finally pulled away Victor let out a little gasp. “What did I say?” he asked. Because he would like to repeat it.

“You can have one more,” Yuuri said, firm yet fond. “One more, and then we wait until this is all over.” Victor beamed, hugging the pink egg tight before pecking Yuuri’s cheek. “Now go feed the babies so I can finish up the last of the eggs. And did you write down which ones you looked at?” he asked, and Victor nodded, pulling a little notebook from his pocket. “Great. Thanks.”

Yuuri had drawn a little map of the nursery after it was created and was trying to keep it updated with what kinds of eggs they suspected they had, which had cracks, which were shaking, which had hatched completely and which adult dragon they had paired it with. Between this and grading papers his nights were packed, and he knew Victor was much the same. Victor had reached out to Georgi for potion help, maybe Yuuri could recruit some assistance with the dragons.

He took the notebook from Victor and flipped it open to a new page. After conjuring a quill he wrote _egg color, size, weight._ Below that, for when it hatched, he added, _species, color, ability, name._ There would soon be dozens of little dragons running around, he thought it would be best to keep track of them early on.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Create your own dragon! if you like, please comment with a color, species, name, and/or anything in particular you'd like your dragon to have. I will wait for comments through Sept 24 and then we will see who's hatched! 
> 
> (Special note for Leonzite - please don't freak out with the lack of Chris here. He is coming back next week in the main storyline ;) )


	5. Identifying Dragons Part B

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A new breed at the sanctuary hatches!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you to everyone who participated in my "create a dragon" game last time! I will be doing several little snippets over the next couple of days, one for each of you guys! :)

Victor came back with dinner for Yuuri when he failed to show up at Yu-Topia by eight.

“I could have conjured something,” Yuuri said, even as he gratefully accepted the tupperware handed him.

“Your mother made takoyaki.”

Yuuri already had one in his mouth. “If you went through the hassle to bring it, I'll eat it.”

Victor held out a hand for the notebook Yuuri had in his free hand. “Pass me it, I'll take over,” he said, and Yuuri handed him the notebook. “Anyone hatch while I was at home?”

“You know I would have called you,” Yuuri said. He was doing better at keeping his two-way mirror on him these days to quickly summon Mari or Victor when needed. As he went to take another bite he yawned, long and loud.

“Yuuri,” Victor sighed fondly. “You were here all day. You have school in the morning. Go home,” he insisted. “I'll stay tonight.”

“But the green one is bound to hatch soon,” Yuuri said, pointing his chopsticks at the mossy green egg on the rocks closest to him. “I just know it. The cracks are severe, and I'm even pretty sure I heard a little chirp...”

“We'll give it until ten,” he said. “Then it's bedtime for you.” He tapped Yuuri playfully on the nose before opening up the notebook. Yuuri grumbled something about being an adult too old for a bedtime as he continued to wolf down the takoyaki.

Before long both of them had dozed off accidentally, Victor propped up against a boulder and Yuuri leaning against him. They may have slept there throughout the night if Azura hadn't come over, sniffing the egg curiously and rumbling in excitement. Yuuri blinked slowly awake, not processing where he was right away, but when his eyes landing on the shaking, cracking egg before him he jolted harshly and turned to wake Victor. “Vitya!”

“Hm?” he hummed sleepily.

“It's hatching!”

Victor's eyes popped open. “Oh!” he gasped. “Really? Okay!” He looked wildly around, seeing Azura nudging the egg gently off the hot stones and onto the nearby dirt, Grace looking eagerly over her shoulder. “Is Moonstruck here?”

“No, I haven't seen her in a bit. Can you check her favorite cave on the mountain?” Victor nodded and disappeared with a _crack_. Yuuri got to his feet, approaching the egg slowly. “Hey Azura...” he started carefully. “Can I take a look at the egg?” When he got close, he reached out a hand, only to have Azura growl and show her fangs. “Hey now,” he scolded lightly. “It's just me...” As expected of a female dragon around vulnerable eggs, she was feeling particularly protective, even with Yuuri. “You have plenty, this one's for Moonstruck,” he tried to explain. “Don't you want a break?”

Azura shuffled in the dirt before laying down, tail flicking in irritation as she kept the egg well within striking reach of her powerful jaws. Yuuri suspected she was fully prepared to boil him with her steam if she felt it was necessary. He felt a very powerful _protect_ emotion coming off her in waves, accompanied by _elation, worry, proud, eager._ Yuuri tried to send reassuring feelings back at her, along with a good dose of gratitude. “You did such a good job with the eggs,” he praised. “Kept them warm, kept them safe... Let me help now, okay?” Her bright eyes kept a close watch on him as she set her head on her front paws. “I'm gonna take that as your tentative agreement...”

He watched closely, just as fascinated as if it was the first time he'd seen an egg hatch. It shook and trembled, bits of shell flaking off. Once a hole appeared he could hear the clicks and chirps and grunts of the little dragon inside, its claws _tappity tap tapping_ on the inside quickly.

_Crack_. “Found her!” Victor beamed as he appeared with Moonstruck beside him. Azura was startled to her feet, she and Moonstruck both a little disoriented by the silvery white dragons sudden appearance. They barked lightly at each other for a moment, Azura a little extra sensitive with the stress of the egg and Moonstruck confused on why she'd been whisked away from her cave.

All eyes went to the egg as it finally toppled over onto its side, little claws tearing the hole large enough for a head then a body to tumble out into the grass.

“Back up, back up!” Yuuri hissed to Victor, tugging his boyfriend back as the wizard automatically made to move closer. “Moonstruck has to be first!”

The newly hatched dragon called softly, and Yuuri worried for a moment Azura would push the smaller Moonstruck out of the way, instinct driving her to answer the call of a hatchling in distress. He held his breath, anxiously trying to figure out if he had time to run to Azura and Apparate away with her just in case, but before he finished the thought he saw Moonstruck curiously chirp back at the little dragon.

The hatchling was still slightly damp and slimy, and it twisted and fell over onto its back in its attempt to lick the gunk off its pale blue-violet scales. Moonstruck trilled a happy, curious little tune and bent down, nudging gently at the little dragon. It flailed its tiny claws, barely even noticeable to Moonstruck with her thick scales around her snout. She huffed a small burst of blue flames, and the hatchling cooed and swiped at the heat happily. With a gentle push of her snout she righted the dragon onto all fours again, and it nuzzled happily against her snout, chirping and hiccoughing joyful little cries.

Victor, as usual, was near tears. “It's so beautiful!” he gasped. “What a pretty purple!”

“Do you know what it is?” asked Yuuri, trusting his encyclopedia-like memory of all the books he'd read.

“Let me get a closer look,” he said, but one step closer earned him an unusually fierce roar from Moonstruck as she crouched low to the ground, baring her fangs as the hatchling tripped in its eagerness to run to her side. “Whoa, whoa,” he said, hands up to show he meant to no harm. “Yuuri?”

Yuuri nodded, and a moment later he was in his sui riu form, rumbling softly at both Azura and Moonstruck until they both seemed to relax and settle back down. Yuuri laid beside them too, and Victor took a few paces backward until he was at the boulder he'd fallen asleep against earlier, and sat back down against it. “That's fair, Mom wants time with the newborn.” He set to occupying himself by jotting down its coloring in the notebook.

_Scales are a pale blue-violet color_ , he wrote. _Color darkens at extremities, too early to tell if it's a dark blue or dark purple._ He watched as Moonstruck licked the fluid off the hatchling, nudging it this way and that and finally moving to its furled up wings, encouraging the hatchling to spread them open. Victor gasped as transparent wings unfurled, outlined in a deep purple. “Yuuri!” he said excitedly. “It's an Indigo Glasswing!” The blue dragon huffed an acknowledgment at Victor, unable to speak, but Victor could see the sparkle in its eyes.

_Indigo Glasswing_ , he scribbled hurriedly, trying to remember everything he'd ever learned about the breed. _Native to tropical rainforests. Intelligent and curious. Thrive in large family groups._ He looked up again, eyes roaming around the dozens of eggs in the nursery. _Well_ , he thought. _If it's a large family you want, it's a large family you'll get..._

Victor continued to jot down anything he could remember while Yuuri sat patiently by Moonstruck's side, silently supporting her as she greeted and groomed her first hatchling. After a while he resumed his human form and came to sit beside Victor.

“I think she was a good choice,” he said, resting against Victor. Moonstruck had her tail curled possessively around her little one. “Indigo Glasswing, you said? I've never had one of those before.”

“Moonstruck will do just fine,” Victor agreed. “Although...Glasswings are tropical...”

Yuuri laughed out a groan. “And Moonstruck likes snow... Well, good thing she's best friends with Opal,” he chuckled. “Maybe Opal can babysit and take the little guy to the warmer parts of the sanctuary now and then.” For the most part he would be in the nursery, which was easy enough for them to regulate temperature wise, keeping the north side cool and the south side warm. “Oh look at his little black horns!” he cooed, pointing at the now dozing dragon. They were barely visible little stumps, but Yuuri knew he'd grow them out to be quite impressive.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks to Droewyn for creating this beautiful dragon!


	6. Identifying Dragons Part C

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hiroko puts the babies to bed.

Hiroko was seated comfortably on a small cushion she'd brought from the inn, leaning back against the stone wall of the dragon nursery. Two of the most recent hatchlings were snoozing by her sides, each with their head resting in her lap. Her left hand was idly running up and down one of them, lazily skimming their shiny silver scales, and her right hand was holding her book as she read aloud.

“... _and so the prince, who had set out to slay the fearsome dragon, laid down his sword before the great beast. His knights shouted, 'No Your Highness!' in dismay, for they believed their beloved leader was about to be eaten_.” She looked down at the dragon she was petting. “You wouldn't want to eat a prince, would you? All that leather and chain mail in the way?” The little dragon chirped sleepily, rolling onto its back to allow her access to its belly.

“ _'Fear not!' the prince called to his men. 'This dragon is no threat! Though I tried to kill it, it defended itself without killing me. It repaid my violence with mercy and kindness. After I was injured in our fight it brought me food, when I was attacked by wild creatures it defended me, and when I was lost it lead me home.'_

_“His men stared in astonishment, and his father the king was speechless. 'If bringing you the head of a dragon proves I am worthy of your crown,' the prince continued, 'then I must admit that I am not fit to be king.' The prince waited for a response but the king remained silent. And so, with a heavy heart, the prince turned from his father and knights and walked back the way he had come, back into the forest with the dragon by his side._

_“It is said the king soon banished the tradition of slaying a dragon to win the right to rule, but it was too late, and his son never returned to the kingdom. To this day no one knows what became of the Dragon Prince. Some claim on quiet nights they can hear a distant roar, and others swear they see the silhouette of a dragon pass the moon with a rider on its back. They believe he's out there still, defending the very dragons he'd set out to destroy.”_

Hiroko set the book down and scratched both dragons behind their ears, earning a gentle rumbling purr from them both. “I bet you two will grow up to be like that dragon,” she smiled. “I don't think anyone could meet you and not instantly want to protect you.” The one on her right sleepily pushed its to its feet, stepping fully into her lap and standing on its hind legs, front paws clawing gently at her shirt. “Shh, I got you,” she cooed, and picked it up to cradle in one arm. “Come on, you too,” she said, and carefully scooped the other one up to.

She got to her feet and slowly carried them over to the small nests of hay they'd made. Scattered throughout the nursery were nests of different materials, attracting different types of dragons. Some preferred rocks, others twigs and leaves, hay, or even hot coals. Some simply preferred to lounge in the grassy center.

The two she was holding, Tibetian Druks, lived in mountainous regions and so the Katsuki's had assumed they would prefer stone nests, as they suspected they lived in caves. Instead, the two had quickly made claim to a section in the hay and burrowed in every night to keep warm. They weren't sure if they'd do this in the wild too, or if the babies simply took advantage of what they had here.

Hiroko set them down one by one, and they immediately began wiggling to get beneath a layer of hay. She helped, picking up handfuls and covering them up. “We're going to have to keep a close eye on you two,” she mused, patting their heads, the only visible parts of them left. “Once you start exhibiting your electrical abilities, you're going to be fire hazards.” Tibetian Druks were capable of using their body's own natural electrical impulses to shock prey, but until they learned to control it, they would have to be kept away from anything flammable.

Satisfied the two were successfully tucked in for the night, Hiroko stood and went over to Mari, who was giving a little snack to their Indigo Glasswing. “I'm going to try to get Verndara in for the night.”

Mari chuckled. “Good luck.”

Hiroko smiled and picked up the wand she'd set near Mari for safekeeping. “She's been out for two days straight. I think she ought to come back for at least the night so she can keep up the bond with the other hatchlings. He can't hog her all to himself everyday.”

“Good luck,” Mari just repeated, and Hiroko laughed and Disapparated away, appearing in the desert climate.

Before her in the fading sunlight lay two dragons, one monstrously huge and red and one amber colored, hardly bigger than a house cat. It was quite comical to see them side by side. They appeared to both be asleep, Verndari curled up on the warm sand while the little dragon lay spread eagle on her back, tummy up collecting the last bit of warmth from the setting sun.

“Verndara,” Hiroko whispered. “You ready to go home?” The little hatchling peeked an eye open, vaguely interested, but Verndari was sitting up instantly, baring his teeth as he growled a warning.

From the moment he met the little dragon he'd been fiercely protective of her. Azura had been the one present for the hatching, and while she was just as affectionate with this hatchling as any other, it was clear a love of water was not in this hatchlings future, which made it hard for Azura to spend a lot of time with her. An Arabian Crested Veil tended to favor hot dry climates, where Azura's other hatchlings were fond of swimming and splashing in the shallow waters, and if given the choice between land and water, Azura typically went with water.

After a week of watching her newest hatchling mope on the sandy beach as her siblings played in the water, Azura picked her up gently with her teeth and marched her over to the desert habitat, depositing her at Verndari's feet. The red dragon had roared at her, either confused or angry or both, but Azura huffed a breath of steam and stomped back to the water.

The two looked at each other in awkward silence before Verndari huffed and settled back in the sand, ready to ignore the hatchling until Azura came back for it. He let out another threatening grumble for good measure, eager for his solitude back, and he half expected the little thing to turn tail and dart for her mother. Instead, she'd echoed back her fiercest roar, a pathetically adorable sound, and flopped onto her back, wiggling down into the sand and settling in for a nap in the hot sun. Verndari had watched her for a moment before laying back down himself. When Azura came back a few hours later, hatchlings all done swimming and now playing in the grass, Verndari barked at his mate, curled his tail around the hatchling and pulled her close to his side protectively. Azura nuzzled against him happily and then headed back to the nursery. From then on Verndari rarely let her out of his sight.

Hiroko put her hands on her hips, smiling an exasperated smile. “Come now, let Dara have one night with her siblings. You've had her for two days all to yourself!” They didn't normally let hatchlings stay in the main sanctuary overnight, or really out here unsupervised at all, but they didn't think any dragon in the entire enclosure was foolish enough to mess with her with Verndari around.

Verndara hopped to her feet, padding over to Hiroko and jumping into her arms. Verndari stood as well, and Hiroko knew better than to Disapparate away with the little dragon in front of him. Rather than teleport, she walked to the nursery, Verndari trailing close behind, eyes trained on her.

They passed through the boulders and entered the nursery, and Hiroko set the little dragon down in the grass. She eagerly took off in the direction of the other dragons, and before Verndari could follow they heard Azura call softly from where she was laying in the grass with Vicchan. Verndari headed over to them, settling between them, seemingly content now that everyone was accounted for.

“It's getting late,” said Mari, coming to stand beside her mother. “We should get home if we don't want to be too tired for breakfast in the morning.”

“Okay, let's-” she paused when she felt little claws on her leg, gently prodding for her attention. She looked down to see one of the silvery Tibetians at her feet, chirping sleepily at her. “What are you doing here?” she asked, reaching down to pick him up. “I just put you to bed.” The little dragon yawned. “Okay, come on, let's get you tucked in again.” To Mari she said, “You can turn in for the night. I'll be right behind you.”

“Uh huh,” laughed Mari, not believing her at all. “I'll tell Dad not to wait up.”

Hiroko tsked and shooed her off before carrying the hatchling back over to its nest of hay and setting him down beside his brother. She helped replace the blanket of hay, then pulled her wand out of her pocket. “Accio book,” she said, and the storybook she'd set down earlier zoomed over to her grasp. “Do you want another bedtime story?” she asked, and the little dragon yawned again. “Okay. Just one more.” She opened the book, flipping past the chapter called The Dragon Prince and settling on The Princess and The Dragon. “ _Once upon a time, in a far away cave, lived a lonely dragon named Lalena...”_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Big thanks to Jade Ice for creating these two dragon breeds! So cute!


	7. Identifying Dragons Part D

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Victor and Yuuri worry about one of their lonelier dragons.

While Mari and Hiroko gravitated toward tending to the dragons, the abundance of cute little babies more than anything, Toshiya had long ago declared himself the official sanctuary maintenance man.

Even with magic in place to help, a regular walk of all the areas was needed as you couldn't predict all the damage giant dragons could do, intentional or not. Juveniles coming into their abilities accidentally set small fires in the jungle or plains, irritated adults on a rampage could easily down trees with a single swipe of their tail. At least once a week Toshiya liked to walk the property and replace or repair landscaping.

During his routine walk around the lake he noticed the ground had been severely disturbed in a way he'd never seen before. The grass had been completely torn from the earth and it along with soil was rearranged. He assumed a dragon had gone on a little temper tantrum at first, but the more he looked at the mounds of earth the less nonsensical it appeared. The twisting lines and even height of the piles of dirt looked intentional, and unable to see it all well from his vantage point, he conjured his broom and flew a few yards in the air. From above it was clear a design had been intricately gouged into the earth, a repeating pattern that made little sense to Toshiya but was definitely intended to be noticed by someone.

Intrigued, Toshiya summoned Victor via his two-way mirror, and soon enough the other wizard appeared at his side, textbooks in his arms.

“Patterns in the dirt you said?” asked Victor excitedly, dropping to the grass to spread out his books before him. “That could be a few different breeds, ranging from Mexico to Brazil.” He opened one book and began to rapidly flip through it. “You haven't seen this happen before?”

“Not that I've noticed,” Toshiya said. “Maybe I have and just repaired the grass without taking a second look...”

Victor's eyes scanned the pages quickly, smile growing in his excitement as he read aloud. “ _...feed on fish, fruit, algae and plants...males do not fly or have wings...males are known to rearrange-_ ah! Here!” he declared. “The Arbonia, it's found mostly in climates like the Caribbean, Mexico, et cetera. I knew I'd read about this before. It says here the males create patterns in the earth to attract the females from the sky. Only the females of this species can fly.”

“It must be one Yuuri was never able to identify,” said Toshiya. They frequently rescued dragons from traders and collectors without knowing anything about them, though Yuuri did his best to figure out the best way to care for them. “I don't remember him ever mentioning, what was it, Arbonia?”

“Yes,” Victor nodded. “It would be an emerald color, more brownish green if we're talking about a male, and judging by this we are. They typically mate during hurricane season, and though we're getting close to the end of it, we technically are still in season. Perhaps the perpetual state of charmed weather is throwing its timing off.” They didn't have seasons in the sanctuary, not really. Different climates for different preferences, but no area went through seasonal changes.

“Brownish green...” Toshiya echoed, scratching his chin in thought.

“He would be lethargic in the sun, napping and soaking up the sun most of the time.”

“You sure we aren't talking about Verndari?” Toshiya chuckled.

“The male Arbonia wouldn't fly,” Victor reminded him. “They burrow in the ground for their nests, sometimes they live in sea caves... This lake is as close to a sea as they could find here.”

“Well, there's Smaragd,” Toshiya said. “He tends to burrow. I've never seen him do this, but he's the right color, and one of the few without wings we have.”

“Where do you normally find him?” asked Victor.

“Not too far from here,” Toshiya said. “I'll take you.” He held out his hand, and Victor happily took it, allowing Toshiya to Disapparate them away.

Once found, Victor was quickly able to confirm that Smaragd was indeed an Arbonia. Knowing Yuuri never had his darn mirror on him, Victor conjured a paper bird to send him a note that he'd figured out what another one of their dragons were, and soon Yuuri was at his side.

“Here,” said Victor, handing the book to Yuuri open to the page he'd been reading earlier. Yuuri skimmed it quickly.

_The female Arbonia has a long, lean body covered in scales, a long snout, with a tail the same length as its torso. Light weight, it is built for effortless flight with beautiful feathery wings. It's webbed ears allow it to pick up any faint movement of air. In contrast, males have a thicker bone structure and hide, heavy paws with claws, and are wingless._

_The Arbonias mate during hurricane season, with the responsibility of attracting a mate left to the male. He will carve patterns into the earth large enough to be seen by a passing female, and if she is impressed she will land and stay the season with him. Females will nest with the male until the young are born, but will leave the male to raise the young on his own once satisfied the hatchlings are healthy and safe in his care. It is entirely possible for one male to attract multiple females in a single season, leading to more than one nest in the burrow at a time._

_Seeing a female in the sky is said to bring good luck, sighting both male and female is said to announce the arrival of hurricanes._

“It definitely sounds like a match,” Yuuri agreed. “It says here he's attempting to attract a mate?” Victor nodded, and Yuuri's excited expression fell a little bit. “We don't have a female...” It didn't matter how intricate and pretty Smaragd's earth patterns were if the sanctuary held no mate.

“Oh,” said Victor, his smile fading a little too. “Well, nothing we can do about that, unfortunately. He'll be unsuccessful this year, but once he's released back home I'm sure he'll find a nice mate in the wild.”

“Yeah,” Yuuri agreed.

Throughout October, now that they knew to look for it, they noticed increasingly complex designs in the earth around the lake. Yuuri took to his sui riu form on more than one occasion and tried to send comforting waves of _they're beautiful_ and _maybe next year_ Smaragd's way to combat the aura of loneliness and disappointment. While the green dragon had often been spotted wandering the plains when not soaking up the sun, he was consistently hidden away underground now, only venturing out to update his patterns now and then.

“If he doesn't absorb enough sunlight I'm worried he'll get too cold underground,” Yuuri said this morning over breakfast. “He can't breathe fire, you know. He normally gets hours of sun, but Mari and Mom said they never see him sunbathing anymore. Do you think we should bottle some flames and put them in his burrow, just to be safe? Something warm he could wrap around? His depression is bad enough, but it may lead to something more dangerous if his temperature drops too low...”

Victor frowned, thinking it over. “That might not be a bad idea... I could ask Chris if he knows any other charms that might help too. Maybe something that could warm the entire burrow, like the very soil itself? That way if he isn't interested in the bottled flames he'd still be okay because the entire nest would be heated.”

“Yeah, please ask him,” Yuuri agreed. “And I'd like to go see him before class this morning.”

Victor glanced at the clock on the wall. “Are you sure? You don't have a ton of time before school.”

“I just want to pop in and make sure he's alright,” Yuuri said. “I haven't stopped by in a few days.”

After breakfast they went together, Apparating a little ways outside his burrow and expecting to have to carefully venture down into it to check on him. Instead, however, they quickly noticed a shadow circling the patterns in the ground, and when they looked up they saw a bright yellow underbelly of a dragon soaring above them.

After several minutes of circling, the intrigued wizards keeping quiet and still, the new arrival landed, chirping in interest as it looked intently at the design.

“That's one of our Aruban Stars,” Yuuri whispered. “Her bright yellow scales reflect moonlight so well she's clearly visible at night, like a shooting star.” They watched as she padded over the design, agile enough so that even with her large paws she didn't disturb much.

At first, anyway. After a minute of admiring Smaragd's work, the yellow dragon started scratching at the mounds, carving new lines into the earth, tail wiping some existing ones away.

“Oh-! Should we stop her?” asked Victor, taking a step toward the dragon, but Yuuri caught his arm.

“Wait. Let's just...give it a minute.”

With all the ruckus above him, a clearly newly awakened Smaragd emerged from his underground home to see what was going on. At the sight of a dragon destroying his work he immediately was on full alert, roaring as he hurried the rest of the way out and over to her. Upon realizing it was a female, his roar turned to confused grumbling as he looked at the ground.

The yellow dragon chirped hesitantly but was still brave enough to close the distance between them, approaching the stunned Smaragd and circling around him once, coming to a stand beside him, close enough just to brush their scales together at the shoulder and hips.

“Oooooh my goodness,” Yuuri said quietly.

“What? What?” asked Victor eagerly.

“I am picking up definite waves of interest from the Star,” he said. “She clearly liked his work, but thought it needed a little touch up to be perfect. And was apparently willing to do that herself. Is that normal?”

Victor looked incredulously at him. “Yuuri. Aruban Stars don't attract mates with pretty patterns on the ground. They do a courtship dance in the sky.”

Yuuri blinked at him. “Are you sure?”

“I've memorized every book on dragons there are!” he whispered back. “I'm positive. And even a female Arbonia wouldn't change the pattern herself, she'd just go find a male that had one that pleased her.”

Confused, they looked back at the dragons before them. Smaragd was looking over the additions to his patterns, the Star beside him looking hopeful for his approval. Being the one to give the approval was clearly something he'd never anticipated, but after a moment of consideration he tentatively reached his neck out to nuzzle against her. The yellow dragon quickly trilled a delighted tune and pressed closer, her tail twining with his as she nuzzled back.

Victor and Yuuri glanced at each other. “...First Verndari and Azura, now these two. How many inter-species couples are wizards going to accidentally facilitate?” asked Yuuri.

Victor clasped his hands together, heart shape smile in place as he asked the more important question: “What do you think the babies will be like?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Big round of applause to Leonzite for creating the Arbonia dragon!! Ended up doing something a little different than having another hatchling be born, but we will have a baby Arbonia egg soon by the looks of things! 
> 
> Thanks to everyone who helped create some new dragon breeds, I had a lot of fun with your ideas! They will most likely pop up now and then in the main storyline.


	8. Identifying Dragons Part E

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The pink egg finally hatches!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> For AngelDragon, who had a request for the pink egg

Victor was walking through the nursery one morning, carrying the pink egg as he usually did. Yuuri was on the other side of the grassy center looking over the twin Tibetian Druk hatchlings, Mari was feeding half a dozen babies fresh fish, and Toshiya was waving his wand like a conductor, guiding several pruning sheers in their upkeep of the bushes.

As Victor looked over the nests of hot stones, charming a few to heat up a little more, he felt a little tremble from the egg in his arms. He dismissed it at first, assuming he’d lost his grip and it had slipped, but a minute later it shook once again.

“Ah!” he gasped happily, holding it out in front of him. “Ah – Yuuri!”

Yuuri looked up from the silvery dragons. “Yes, Vitya?” he called.

“Our egg! I think it’s hatching!”

Yuuri jumped to his feet and hurried over. “Are you sure?”

“It’s shaking a little, I’m sure it is!” Victor gushed. “And look, here’s a crack! It’s faint, but it’s there!”

“Well, let’s put it on the grass,” Yuuri said. “We don’t want to drop it. Come on,” and he led Victor to an empty patch of grass. “This could take a while. Let me tell Dad and Mari.” There was no need, as they’d heard Victor’s shout earlier and were looking over curiously, giving the couple space but wanting to see what the baby looked like. “Oh. They know.” He waved, and they waved back, then Yuuri took a seat on the grass beside Victor.

“The waiting is the worst part!” Victor whined, settling the egg in his lap rather than on the grass for now.

They sat for several hours watching the cracks grow and listening to the chirps and trills from the little dragon fighting to get out. Soon little claws poked through, tearing weakly at the eggshell, then a little snout. Yuuri finally coaxed Victor into putting the egg down so the hatchling could roll around if needed.

After one final tiny body slam against the shell, the hatchling tumbled out, landing face first in the grass and sneezing loudly, little blades of grass fluttering up into the air.

Victor’s waterworks began right on cue. He hiccoughed out a watery laugh as Yuuri scooped the little one up by its front legs, holding it up before them.

“He’s a boy,” Yuuri marveled. “I wonder how the girls will react.” He was quite excited at the development himself.

Victor was overwhelmed for more than just that though. “He’s hot pink!” he cried, absolutely in love. The little hatchling’s body was the color of cotton candy, with hot pink fur running in a stripe from its head down its torso, all the way to the tip of its tail.

“I think he’s Chinese,” said Yuuri, certain he read in one of Victor’s many books that several Asian breeds were rumored to have fur or hair.

“He’s _perfect_ ,” gushed Victor, making grabby hands at Yuuri for him to pass him over. He gently cradled the little guy in his arm, heart shaped smile in place. “I didn’t have any boy names prepared,” he admitted, having gotten so used to his girls. “I don’t suppose we could still call him Kira?” (Glitter)

“We might want to think of some alternatives,” Yuuri chuckled.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please suggest some names, as I have no idea what to call this adorably baby dragon! 
> 
> Also - I would like to gift a small snippet to you lovely readers. If there is a scene you would like to see, or if you can give me any kind of prompt, I would be delighted to write a little something for you as a Christmas/New Years gift. It can be something random or related to the main storyline, whatever you're in the mood for, and I'll do my best to deliver :) please feel free to comment up to the end of December and I'll try to get them written throughout January.


End file.
